Girls Cross-country: Ramsey wins North 1, Group 2

PARSIPPANY — Every time the Ramsey girls cross-country team forms a huddle before a big race, someone says the same phrase:

"When the pain pushes you, you have to push back harder."

Saturday, the four North Jersey teams that won titles at the North 1 championships pushed back not only at the pain a 5,000-meter race can produce, but at the challenges and inconveniences superstorm Sandy threw at every team in the state over the last two weeks.

And for Ridgewood’s boys and girls, Ramsey’s girls and Indian Hills’ boys, the constant was "the pack mentality."

"The good old pack attack came through again [Saturday]," said Ramsey coach John Kirchhof after his girls had defeated Morris Hills and High Point, 75-89-94, to win Group 2 despite having no runners in the top 10. "We couldn’t get here during the week because we had no gas in the school buses, but we watched a video of the course on the Track Show website and it helped us plan our strategy."

"Coach always says that we shouldn’t worry about other teams and their runners if they get out faster than we do, because we’ll catch them," said senior Jacqueline Clinton, the sixth of six Ramsey runners who finished within a minute of each other packed from 11th to 26th places.

"We’re a second-loop team and this was a two-loop course," added Kierra Jordan, whose 15th-place finish was Kirchhof’s nicest surprise.

The shift of the race from Garret Mountain to Central Park of Morris County (better known as Greystone) caused some changes in strategy. Greystone doesn’t have the monster finishing hill of Garret, but has its own twists and turns, with gradual long hills and several types of surface footing.

"When we came here Tuesday to practice and look at the course, we figured the best way to run it was by loops and not by miles," said Nick Salamone of Ridgewood, who led his team to its third straight Group 4 sectional title and ninth in 11 years with an individual win. "We stuck together throughout the two weeks as a team and really ended up liking it here."

Ridgewood’s boys, easy 44-81 winners over Passaic County champ Clifton, placed its top six runners in a 38-second pack between first and 14th places and jumped back into the picture for the Group 4 title after a period of less-than-stellar performances.

"We wanted to make a statement [Saturday]," said Salamone.

And the Ridgewood girls, paced by the dominating win of Catherine Pagano, put their next four runners in an ultra-tight, 16-second pack to upset favored Randolph, which finished 2-3-4 behind the Maroons.

It was a record 21st sectional title for Ridgewood coach Jacob Brown, although perhaps one of his hardest.

"We didn’t miss a step with the storm," said Brown. "We practiced together when we could and we had some great practices, and we constantly kept in touch by text and emails and worked extra hard to keep our focus. It was an incredible disruption for everyone but they got through it."

So, too, did Indian Hills, which held off Wayne Hills and Wayne Valley, 76-86-99, despite some problems that weren’t Sandy related.

"We were OK with the storm," said Braves coach Tom Zaccone. "We ran [the morning of Oct. 29] before the winds got bad, and then we were able to get back to practice on [Oct. 31] and everyone was there — boys and girls."

"They were staying all over the place but they made it to practice every day even with no school."

The Braves’ top runner, junior Bobby Corcoran, was sick all last week and Zaccone said he would have been unavailable had the race been held as scheduled Nov. 3.

He isn’t completely recovered yet, but managed an 11th-place finish, two spots behind Hee Tae An, who led the Braves in ninth. Chris Evans lost a shoe on the opening straightaway of the race, but still managed to finish 14th as Indian Hills put six runners within 39 seconds in the top 25.

"It was a wonderful day for all our kids — boys and girls," said Zaccone.

In all, 15 boys and 11 girls teams advanced to the group meet next weekend at Holmdel Park.